Centrifugal extractor cover



13 (2497266 GZA/afzezz INVENTOR.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 A G MAITZEN CENTRIFUGAL EXTRACTOR COVER Dec. 19, 1950 Flled May 1 1948 Dec. 19, 1950 MAITZEN 2,534,286

CENTRIFUGAL EXTRACTOR com Filed May 1, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 oeoooooooo IN V EN TOR.

Patented Dec. 19, 1950 CENTRIFUGAL EXTRACTOR COVER Alfonse G. Maitzen, Park Ridge, 11].; Winonah Maitzen, Richard Maitzen, and Jack Maag, executors of Alfonse G. Maitzen, deceased, assignors to Winonah Maitzen, Richard Maitzen, and Jack Maag, as trustees Application May 1, 1948, Serial No. 24,619

7 Claims.

This invention which relates generally to commercial laundry equipment is concerned more especially with centrifugal extractors for removing the bulk of water from wet fabrics as an intermediate step in the drying process.

The centrifugal extractors heretofore in common use, of which I am aware, include containers which are open at the top and have inwardly turned top flanges which serve to prevent the contents from rising up and out of the containers under the impetus of centrifugal force. These flanges greatly increase the time required to load the extractors because it is necessary for the loaders carefully to place the wet garments underneath the flanges, otherwise a part of the load would be apt to escape out of the containers with possible injury thereto.

The primary object of this invention is to reduce the loading time by eliminating the afore-- mentioned flanges; and to that end I have devised a novel container and cover construction which renders the flanges unnecessary, while at the same time enabling the loaders to open and close the containers and load the same in a much shorter space of time than previously was required to suitably position the load beneath the container flanges.

The novel and distinctive features of my invention will be pointed out and explained with reference to the accompanying drawings and in conjunction with the following detailed description.

In the drawings:

Figure'l is an isometric view of a centrifugal extractor incorporating the subject invention.

Fig. 2 is an isometric exploded view of one of the two containers, together with its cover;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken at line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the container covers;

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail taken at line 5-5 of Fig. l;

Fig. 6 is a'sectional detail taken at line 6-6 of Fig. 1, showing one of the covers partially removed from its container and depicting the manually releasable latch which serves to hold the cover on the container; and

, Fig. 7 is a sectional detail corresponding to Fig. 6 but showing the cover fully emplaced and latched.

The extractor illustrated comprises a cylindrical tank or tub T made of heavy sheet metal, open at the top and mounted on suitable supports, not shown. A discharge pipe for waste water is connected to the bottom of said tank.

Disposed concentrically within said tank 'I is a cylindrical sheet metal foraminous basket B mounted for rotation upon a centrally located .vertical shaft I 4 journaled in bearings I5 and I6 and connected through a V-belt drive Hi to the pulley of a motor 26. In operation, the basket B is rotated at a speed of about 750 R. P. M.

What has so far been described is well-known conventional construction and requires no further description.

Within the basket B are two semi-cylindrical foraminous sheet metal containers C, one of which is shown in detail in Fig. 2. Each of these containers comprises a vertical, substantially planar, wall 23, a hinged bottom 24 and a semicircular foraminous vertical wall 25 which is coterminous with and connected to the planar wall 23. Each wall 23 is recessed, as at 25, to clear an axial housing 21 forming a part of the basket B,

and is apertured as at 28 to receive the hook 30 (Fig. 1) of a power hoist by means of which the containers C are lifted out of and lowered into the basket.

In operation, the two containers C, C are loaded with wet articles of clothing or the like, and in the conventional prior art construction there is provided at the top of each container an inwardly projecting semi-annular flange or v. ledge which serves to keep the wet garments from being ejected by centrifugal forcethere being usually an upwardly directed component of such force suflicient to cause some of the contents of the containers to creep over the upper peripheral edges of the containers, in the absence of such a preventive measure. Any such flanges must inescapably constitute an obstacle to fast loadin of the extractors because the loaders are obliged carefully to place the wet garments underneath the flanges instead of merely dumping them into the containers.

I have eliminated the aforementioned flanges, thereby speeding up the loading operations, by providing removable semi-circular covers 29 for the containers C, and these covers can quickly be taken oif and replaced for each reloading operation.

To the upper edge of each semi-circular basket wall 25 there is attached, as by riveting or welding, a semi-circular rim 32, having an external peripheral groove 34 lying inwardly of a peripheral ledge 35 thereover; and each cover 29 is formed with an inwardly turned semi-annular flange or lip 36 positioned. to enter one of the container grooves 34 and thus underlie the ledge 35.

The container covers 29 may be castings; but preferably they are fabricated out of sheet metal and cut away arcuately at the axial center, as

' indicated at 38 (Fig. 2) in order to allow for inserwith the other. However, that provision is not an indispensable one.

Due to the fact that the planar walls 23 have a tendency to become bowed under centrifugal force so as to separate somewhat adjacent the axis of rotation, it is desirable to form the covers so as to allow for such spreading at the center. As best illustrated in Fig. 4, this is accomplished by running their straight edges 42 angularly so that they contact the walls 23 at their outer ends, but adequately clear said walls at all other points. It will be apparent that this provision is unnecessary if the planar walls 23 are made sufficiently rigid or are sufficiently reinforced to prevent bowing thereof under centrifugal force.

The covers 29 can be removed and replaced only when the containers C are out of the basket B; and their removal and replacement is accomplished by sliding them horizontally along the tops of the containers, as will be self-evident from the illustration. When the containers C are hoisted out of the basket 13, they usually tilt somewhat so that there is a tendency for one or the other of the two covers to fall off, and for that reason I have provided manually releasable latching means which hold the covers in place on the containers until the loaders are ready to remove them. One such latching means, shown most clearly in Figs. 6 and '7, comprises a latch bolt 44 secured to the distal end of a leaf spring 45 which is anchored at 88 to the cover plate 29. It will be observed that the acting end of the latch bolt M is beveled at Ma and, when engaging the edge of the container rim 3?. (Fig. 6), is thereby deflected upwardly so as to clear said rim when the cover is being emplaced. When the latch bolt has completely over-ridden the rim 32 in the course of emplacement of the cover, it is forced down by the spring 35 at the inner side of the rim, as shown in Fig. 7. In that position it serves to lock the cover against unintended dislodgement; but it can easily be retracted by pulling up on a ring It! which is provided for that purpose and connected to the latch bolt 44.

In conformity with prior conventional practice, the bottom plates 24 of the containers C are hinged to drop downwardly for unloading, and are provided with suitable latches 49 which serve to hold them in place until they are intentionally released.

It is obvious that various changes may be made in the specific embodiments set forth for purposes of illustration without departing from the principles of the invention. The invention is accordingly not to be limited to the precise details disclosed herein but includes all modifications thereof within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination in a centrifugal extractor, of a cylindrical tank, a cylindrical basket disposed within said tank and mounted for rotation on a vertical axis, a pair of semi-cylindrical containers disposed within said basket, said containers being adapted to be lifted out of said basket for loading and unloading, and a pair of covers, one for each said container, each said container having an external peripheral groove near the top thereof and at least partially co-extensive arcuately with its circumferential wall and extending inwardly from said wall with the upper wall of the groove inset from the outer edge of the lower wall of said groove, each said cover having an inwardly projecting lip adapted to engage said groove and effective to hold the cover on its container against vertical displacement and arranged in substantially flush arrangement with the outer face of said circumferential wall.

2. The combination in a centrifugal extractor, of a cylindrical open-top tank having a vertical axis, a cylindrical open-top foraminous basket disposed concentrically within said tank and mounted for rotation on a vertical axis, a pair of semi-cylindrical open-top containers disposed within said basket, said containers being adapted to be lifted out of said basket for loading and unloading, each of said containers being provided at the upper edge of its circumferential wall with a semi-circular rim located at the inner face of said wall and provided with an external peripheral groove having the outer edge of its upper wall inset and forming an outwardly projecting ledge, and a pair of semi-circular covers, one for each container, said covers each having an inwardly and radially extending lip coincident with its semi-circular peripheral edge and adapted to underlie the outwardly projecting ledge of the semi-circular rim portion of its associated container, said lip and ledge being effective, conjointly, to hold the cover on the container against vertical displacement, each cover being attachable to and detachable from its container by relative horizontal movement and the peripheral edge of the cover being substantially flush with the outer face of the circumferential wall of the container.

3. The combination in a centrifugal extractor, of a cylindrical open-top tank having a vertical axis, a cylindrical open-top foraminous basket disposed concentrically within said tank and mounted for rotation on a vertical axis, a pair of semi-cylindrical open-top containers disposed within said basket, said containers being adapted to be lifted out of said basket for loading and unloading, each of said containers being provided at the upper edge of its circumferential wall with a semi-circular rim located at the inner face of said wall and provided with an external peripheral groove having the outer edge of its upper wall inset and forming an outwardly projecting ledge, a pair of semi-circular covers, one for each container, said covers each having an inwardly and radially extending lip coincident with its semi-circular peripheral edge and adapted to underlie the outwardly projecting semi-annular ledge of the semi-circular rim portion of its associated container, said lip and ledge being effective, conjointly, to hold the cover on the container against vertical displacement, each cover being attachable to and detachable from its container by relative horizontal movement and the peripheral edge of the cover being substantially flush with the outer face of the circumferential wall of the container, and a manually releasable latch for each said cover, each said latch being operative to retain its cover on the associated container against horizontal displacement.

4. The combination with a semi-cylindrical open-top container having an external semiannular outwardly projecting ledge near its upper end and substantiall coextensive with and parallel to its semi-circular peripheral surface, the peripheral edge of the cover being substantially flush with said semi-circular peripheral surface of the container, and a semi-circular cover for the top of said container, said cover having an inwardly and radially extending lip underlying said ledge when the cover is emplaced on the container.

5. The combination with a semi-cylindrical open-top container comprising a substantially planar vertical wall and a semi-circular vertical Wall co-terminous with said planar wall, a semiannular rim forming the upper terminous of said semi-circular wall, said rim having a semi-annular external groove with the upper wall thereof inset from the peripheral edge of the lower wall, and a semi-circular cover for the top of said container, said cover having an inwardly and radially extending semi-annular lip disposed within said groove with the periphery of the cover substantially flush with said semi-circular wall when the cover is emplaced on the container, and latch means carried by said cover, including a vertically reciprocable latch bolt extending through the cover and operative, when down, to latchingly engage said rim, and a spring biasing said latch bolt downwardly, said lip and groove being eifective, conjointly, to hold the cover on the container against vertical displacement, said latch means being effective to hold the cover on the container against horizontal displacement.

6. The combination in a centrifugal extractor, of a cylindrical open-top tank having a vertical axis, a cylindrical open-top foraminous basket disposed concentrically within said tank and mounted for rotation on a vertical axis, a pair of semi-cylindrical open-top containers disposed within said basket, said containers being adapted to be lifted out of said basket for loading and unloading, each of said containers being provided at the upper edge of its circumferential wall with a semi-circular rim located at the inner face of said wall and provided with an external peripheral groove having the outer edge of its upper wall inset and forming an outwardly projecting ledge, a pair of semi-circular covers, one for each container, said covers each having an inwardly and radially extending lip coincident with its semi-circular peripheral edge and adapted to underlie the outwardly projecting ledge of the semi-circular rim portion of its associated container, said lip and ledge being eifective, conjointly, to hold the cover on the container against vertical displacement, each cover being attachable to and detachable from its container by relative horizontal movement, and the peripheral edge of the cover being substantially flush with the outer face of the circumferential wall of the container, said covers having straight edges confronting the inner faces of the planar walls of the containers and arranged at a slight angle to said planar Walls and terminating short of the center of the extractor, and said covers being provided at said center of the extractor with recesses forming an opening to permit direct engagement of a hoisting hook with said planar walls.

'7. The combination in a centrifugal extractor, of a cylindrical open-top tank having a vertical axis, a cylindrical open-top foraminous basket disposed concentrically within said tank and mounted for rotation on a vertical axis, a pair of semicylindrica1 open-top containers disposed within said basket, said containers being adapted to be lifted out of said basket for loading and unloading, each of said containers being provided at the upper edge of its circumferential wall with a semi-circular rim located at the inner face of said wall and provided With an external peripheral groove having the outer edge of its upper wall inset and forming an outwardly projecting ledge, a pair of semi-circular covers, one for each container, said covers each having an inwardly and radially extending lip coincident With its semi-circular peripheral edge and adapted to underlie the outwardly projecting ledge of the semi-circular rim portion of its associated container, said lip and ledge being effective, conjointly, to hold the cover on the container against vertical displacement, each cover being attachable to any detachable from its container by relative horizontal movement, and the peripheral edge of the cover being substantially flush with the outer face of the circumferential wall of the container, said covers having straight edges confronting the inner faces Of the planar walls of the containers and arranged at a Slight angle to said planar Walls and terminating short of the center of the extractor, said covers being provided at said center of the extractor with recesses forming an opening to permit direct engagement of a hoisting hook With said planar walls, and dowels fixed to the covers at opposite sides of said recesses and engaging holes in the planar walls.

ALPHONSE G. MAITZEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 831,476 Ryan Sept. 18, 1906 2,002,211 Torney May 11, 1935 2,059,461 Johnson Nov. 3, 1936 

